PowerPoint 2000 offers several new features designed to help you collaborate and share information through the Web and to create eye-catching presentations. This version of PowerPoint is also easier to use than ever before.

Tri-pane view. PowerPoint 2000 combines slides, outlines, and notes into one view. This makes it easy to perform many actions, including adding new slides, editing text, entering notes, and navigating while editing.

AutoFit and Fit to Window. In Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, text is automatically resized to fit into a place holder so that it doesn't “fall off” the slide. Slides automatically resize to fit the display resolution and window, so you no longer have to manually adjust their slides or screen resolution.

Native tables. You can create tables directly in PowerPoint 2000 instead of importing from Word or Excel. PowerPoint tables are composed of OfficeArt shapes and behave like tables in Word, making them easy to edit and consistent with styles and themes.

Flexible handouts. You now have more options for audience handouts.

PowerPoint Central. You can get support from helpful PowerPoint resources, such as tutorials, additional textures, sounds, and animations in the Office Value Pack and the PowerPoint Web site.

Custom shows. You can create mini-presentations within a single PowerPoint file that are tailored to different audiences.

Slide Show menu. The new Slide Show menu consolidates everything you need to deliver presentations electronically, whether in a kiosk, in a conference room, or over the Internet.

Types of output. PowerPoint 2000 provides you with every output option: slides, black-and-white and color overheads, black-and-white and color handouts, speaker's notes, and on-screen electronic presentations. In addition, PowerPoint now supports virtual presentations over the Internet.

WEB INTEGRATION FEATURES

Synchronized voice narration. Recorded narration is synchronized with the original presentation, including all transitions and build animations. PowerPoint 2000 also adds the ability to re-record narration for a single slide.

Present in browser. PowerPoint HTML provides a button that launches the presentation in full screen. Presentations can be delivered using Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher instead of a viewer. PowerPoint 2000 integrates two Microsoft technologies, NetShow and NetMeeting, to enable you to collaborate over the network in real time.

Presentation broadcast. Using Presentation Broadcast, you can deliver a presentation over an intranet, displaying the presentation slides in HTML along with the narration as streaming audio and video (requires a NetShow server). Using the Outlook messaging and collaboration client, you can also schedule online broadcasts, set up reminders and click a button to join the broadcast.

Event Web Page and Presentations on Demand. Using this page, others can tune in to watch the broadcast either during or after, or to get information before the broadcast starts. Also, broadcasts are archived on a Web server and are available for playback at any time.

Action buttons. You can connect to another slide, document, or Web site from within a presentation using a set of built-in, universally recognizable 3-D shapes for actions such as forward, back, home, and information.